Bandura - 1961 Flashcards
What is the background to Bandura?
Social learning theory & operant conditioning
What is Bandura’s aim?
to demonstrate that learning can occur through mere observation of a model and that imitation of learned behaviour can occur in the absence of that model
What are the hypotheses?
1- children shown aggressive role models will show significantly more aggressive acts
2- children shown non-aggressive role models will show significantly less aggressive behaviour
3- boys will show significantly more imitative aggression than girls
4- children will imitate same sex models to a greater degree
What is the sample?
- 72 children
- 36 boys & 36 girls
- 3-5 years old
- from a nursery school in Stanford California
What are the strengths of the sample?
- not small = more representative and generalisable
- no gender bias - equal number of boys and girls
What are the weaknesses of the sample?
- culture bias = ethnocentric - lack pop validity
What sampling technique was used?
opportunity
Why is this an opportunity sample?
the children were already available in the nursery
What are the strengths of an opportunity sample?
- easy to obtain
- no researcher bias
What are the weaknesses of an opportunity sample?
- culture bias - same type of people in one place
What is the method?
laboratory experiment
What makes this study a lab experiment?
- 3 IVs
- controlled setting set up for the purpose of the study
- specific toys
What are the strengths of a lab experiment?
- high control over extraneous variables = easier to establish causality
- standardisation = internal validity
How were EVs controlled?
standardised procedure - having the same toys available for the children
What are the weaknesses of a lab experiment?
- lacks ecological validity
- unusual situation = demand characteristics more likely
What were the IVs?
1- aggressive, non-aggressive, or control model
2- sex of model (female or male)
3- sex of child (boy or girl)
What was the DV?
amount of imitative behaviour
How were the children observed?
through a one way mirror
What were the classifications of imitative aggressive responses?
physical and verbal
What is the design?
matched pairs - triplets
How were the participants matched?
by pre-testing the children on four 5 point rating scaled
What were the 4 pre-test rating scales based on?
1- physical aggression
2- verbal aggression
3- aggression towards inanimate objects
4- aggressive inhibition
How were scores on the pre-test obtained?
adding the result of the of the four ratings
How were participants allocated to a condition?
randomly assigned to one of experimental or control
What are the strengths of this design?
reduces the impact of participant variables e.g., the children’s natural aggression
What are the weaknesses of this design?
- could be other individual differences that effect aggression imitation
- valid comparisons are harder to draw
- causality cannot be established
How many phases were in the procedure?
3
What was phase 1?
the modelling stage
What was the set up of stage 1?
- child taken into a room and sat in the ‘child’s corner’
- toys that are normally enjoyed at the nursery
- ‘adult corner’ = role model playing
What was the details of stage one for aggressive role models?
- during the aggressive condition the adult played with the tinker toy set for approx. one min
- standardised aggression towards the bobo doll
- hitting/ punching/ throwing in air/ hitting with mallet (bobo doll)
- verbally aggressive e.g., “sock him”, “hit him”, “Pow” etc.,
What were the details of stage one for non-aggressive role models?
played with the tinker toy set for the entire ten minute period and completely ignored the bobo doll
What were the details of stage one for the control condition?
no adult present and the child just played in the child corner
What were the types of toys in the child’s corner?
- potato prints
- stickers
What were the types of toys in the adults corner?
- tinker toy set
- bobo doll
- toy gun
- mallet
What happened at the end of stage 1?
the experimenter came back into the room and dismissed the adult model and took the child into another play room
What is phase 2?
mild aggressive arousal stage
What happens in phase 2?
- taken into second room and told they can play with attractive toys
- after 2 mins experimenter tells child they can no longer play because she is reserving them for other children
What are examples of the attractive toys in phase 2?
- fire truck
- doll
- spinning top
What was the purpose of stage 2?
to frustrate the child and see how and they would react in the final stage
What happens in stage 3?
- back into first room but without a model
- can now play with all toys (both child and adult corner)
- play for 20 mins
What did the experimenter do during phase 3?
- observe behind a one way mirror
- time sampling at 5 second intervals
How can the use of time sampling in phase 3 be evaluated?
strengths:
- gives indications on amount of time spent on certain behaviour and the order of events
weaknesses:
- cannot see ALL behaviour and may miss something
How is there inter-rater reliability?
during phase 3 when the experimenter was observing and recording children’s responses there was high inter-rater reliability with the pre-tests
What are the key findings?
- children in the aggressive condition showed significantly more imitation of physical and verbal aggressive behaviour
- male model had more influence than the female model
- boys produced more imitative physical aggression than girls
What type of data was gathered?
both
What is a strength of quantitative data (and how was the data in this study quantitative)?
rating scales produced quantitative data
- objective
- easy to analyse and compare
What is a strength of qualitative data (and how was the data in this study qualitative)?
observation notes
- provides reasoning and insight into why imitation occurs
What are the key conclusions from this study?
- children will imitate behaviours displayed by adult role models
- supports SLT
- male adults have a greater influence (cultural stereotype)
What are the ethical issues within this study?
- protection from harm - could be long lasting effects of aggressive conditions
- lack of informed consent - children
How is this study reliable?
internal validity due to standardisation
Is this study free will or determinism and why?
deterministic - suggests that children are only aggressive because of the influence of adult role models therefore removes free will (unethical)
